The Dividend of Cross-Industry Collaboration

Since the onset of the first industrial revolution, industries have found solace in standalone silos. Segmented into distinct and specialized industry boxes, the world’s key sectors have conformed towards operating within clearly established lines of business.

However, as the contemporary business world innovates in order to attain global opportunities and overcome challenges, the current zeitgeist is evolving as industry leaders seek value-rich synergies through meaningful collaboration.

Cross-industry alliances have become influential in reshaping both business models and customer journeys. One example is the recent Convergence Alliance between Jaguar Land Rover, SAP, and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Labs, which seeks to find solutions that will enable enterprises to unlock new value in AI, Big Data, Blockchain, and IoT[1]. Cross-industry views and processes are also under the microscope at IBM, with the global player looking to Blockchain and API systems as a means to move beyond the industry-centric mindset, improve visibilities, and accelerate companies’ abilities to scale up.

While these examples involve different collectives, their visionary goalposts are inherently the same: They all seek to discover innovations that will empower a new generation of enterprises, spur competition, and enrich the global economic landscape for the better.

Collaborative cross-industry ecosystems are also beginning to have a cathartic effect on the future of the trade banking sector. As an industry ripe for transformation, a confluence of big tech and FinTech powerhouses is thinking outside of the box for a more simplified and inclusive trade finance scene. Through the collective mingling of innovative players and partners from different industries, this is transforming the banking scene by accelerating market adoption and driving impact.

In the case of Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank (AGTB), our unique banking value proposition is coming to life thanks to the art of establishing a multi-industry collaborative ecosystem. By combining FinTech expertise and the creative foresight to disrupt the status quo, AGTB has found formidable partners in Microsoft and Publicis-Sapient. Our digital ecosystem is further bolstered by the the Abu Dhabi Global Market freezone and its financial regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority. In part, AGTB’s innovative foresight gives credit to the inspiring and pioneering thinking that can grow from within innovation incubators such as Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, which is an initiative part of Ghadan 21 – an AED 50 billion investment stimulus fund launched by HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The spirit of collaboration has also given birth to the Marco Polo Network, a global trade network of which AGTB is a founding member. Through this collaborative framework, member banks seek to facilitate global trade through an enriched customer experience based on next generation technologies, including Blockchain.

Worldwide, new-age collaboration is stimulating a cross-industry approach to innovation. Additionally, many global players are waking up to the benefits and growth that can come about from this revolutionary approach. In a similar vein to the way Amazon has redefined the retail realm, or Netflix the entertainment and media space, banking is waiting for an innovative player to shake up the trade finance sector with an aim towards building an exceptional experience dividend and platform value.

The winners will be those willing to commit to transforming what it means to be a bank, and collaborative ecosystems will pave the way forward for this to be unleashed.